The present invention relates to radial motorcycle tires and more particularly but not exclusively to high performance tires, e.g. racing motorcycle tires.
Such tires utilize very wide treads which in transverse cross-section are sharply curved to provide good contact with the road surface when the motorcycle is steeply banked when cornering. Maintenance of a consistent ground contact area of the `tire footprint` under all conditions is a major problem in determining general vehicle handling. Of particular importance in motorcycle racing tires of radial construction is the provision of high cornering power with good stability to maximize cornering speeds under race conditions.
Present radial motorcycle racing tires have short sidewalls which extend to the tread edges radially and axially outwardly from the tire beads. The beads provide engagement with the wheelrim on tapered bead seats. The sidewalls are reinforced by the radial carcass plies which, when tensioned by the inflation pressure, act together with sidewall geometry to provide location of the curved tread regions to withstand cornering forces.
The sharply curved tread region of the tire is specially reinforced by a reinforcing breaker to give the required structural rigidity to allow for banking over of the motorcycle when cornering while giving sufficient flexibility to allow localized tread flattening in the ground contact patch for good road grip.